Ben is getting ready for Paris, and so are our other LA vampires. Thanks for all your support, you keep me writing!

Chapter 4

Josef strode briskly into his office, ready to check on the Tokyo market. He was in a fairly good mood, having heard from Mick that Ben was progressing well with the training program. It looked like Ben might be able to leave for France in the next week.

He'd just sat down at his computer, when his cell rang. He checked and saw it was Emmaline, the Head of Council in New York.

"Yes, Em. How are you?" Josef answered.

"Not good," she growled in her gruff voice.

"What's wrong?"

He heard a sigh from across the continent. "You remember I told you I sent some younger vampires over to France to get information about the Paris Council?"

"Yes?"

"One came back a couple of weeks ago, but the other two stayed. Just last night, Marco called me from Belgium. The Cleaners there got him on a plane to New York after they found him injured. The Paris people found out the other vampire we sent was connected with us and tortured him to find out what he knew. Marco tried to help him and barely escaped with his life. He got on a train out of Paris and wound up in Brussels. He called the Cleaners and they called us."

"Is the other vampire dead?"

"If not, he's probably told them why we sent him. I know you're planning on having young Talbot go over, but now I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"What did you tell these vampires before they went to France?"

"Just to try to find out what the Paris Council was up to," she replied.

"So the only thing the French might find out is the US Council is interested in what they're doing."

"Yes….."

Josef paused a moment. "You're in New York, and Ben would be coming from LA. He doesn't have any connection with you or the Council there. He could convince them he's on his own."

"Would they believe him? How could he know to seek them out?"

"His sire, Megan has wineries in France. He could tell them he found out through vampires at her business."

"They would probably check," Emmaline commented.

"We could take care of that. I'm sure Megan's people are loyal to her."

"I don't want anyone else hurt, Josef," Emmaline said. "Perhaps we can send a Cleaner."

Josef shook his head and replied. "We don't have the time. We'd have to set up a false identity and the Cleaner would have to be letter-perfect. With Ben, his background is known and documented. He will be more believable and later try to get Megan accepted by them."

"But he's so young, Josef. Can he cover his emotions?"

"Ewan, Megan and I have been working with him on that. Remember, he was an assistant district attorney for Los Angeles when he was human. He's very focused and I think he can handle himself with the older vamps."

There was a pause. "It's your call, Josef. I have a couple of Cleaners in Paris that are personal friends that I can contact in case Ben needs help. They'll be discrete."

"Fine, I'll tell you when and where he'll be there."

"Keep me posted," Emmaline said, and hung up.

Josef scrubbed his face in frustration. He'd made tough decisions before, but they usually didn't put innocents in harm's way. He had to tell Megan and Ben about what had happened in Paris. It needed to be Ben's decision if he went or not. He picked up his phone to make the call.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Pierre, the Comte du Plessis watched while his second-in-command entered the Council office.

"Well? What did you find out?"

The vampire gave a quick bow. "Nothing more of interest, my lord. We were thorough in our questioning. The traitor only knew he was sent to find out about our plans."

"So he is truly dead?"

"Oui. He was unable to withstand our more vigorous methods."

"Ah, a pity, du Plessis said," not sounding sorry at all.

"What do we do now?"

du Plessis thought a moment. "Nothing. Our plans are made and won't be changed by this feeble attempt from the Americans."

"As you wish, my lord," the minion bowed again.

"Come; let us go over our latest intelligence."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Megan and Ben came into the lounge at Josef's home, greeting Simone who smiled and offered them refreshment. Josef had asked Mick and Beth to come too, and Mick took over as bartender and passed out drinks when Josef entered. He accepted a scotch from Mick, and looked at Ben.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your evening," Josef said.

Ben shrugged slightly. "Megan and I were just working on my French."

Josef smiled widely, "Let's hear it."

Ben said in French, "I'm so pleased to meet you, and I hope you can help me." His accent was perfect, and Josef couldn't help being impressed.

"You sound good, Ben. You have the old-world Paris patois."

Now Ben smiled back at Josef, taking Megan's hand. "Credit my teacher. She's been drilling me for the last two weeks."

"Ben's great with languages," Megan commented. "With the DVDs and some practice, I think he'll do well."

Josef rubbed the back of his neck and started pacing the room. He stopped and said, "I heard from Emmaline in New York."

The group gave him their attention as he told them about the vampire that had escaped and how they feared the other had been killed by the Paris Council.

"It might be dangerous for you to try this, Ben," Josef said.

Megan turned to Ben, concern in her eyes. She had agreed to the plan, but now she was more worried than ever.

Taking a gulp of scotch, Ben straightened his shoulders and looked at the others in the room. "I still want to go. I'm prepared, and there's no one else who could do this, am I right?"

Josef nodded, his respect for the fledgling growing. "It's true you have the best chance, but you don't have to go into a dangerous situation."

"Until we find out what these guys are doing, there will be danger for all of us. Who's to say if these vampires reveal themselves in Europe that the human population here won't try to retaliate." Ben said.

"We'll have to go underground or worse yet, stand and fight," Mick mused. The very thought was horrific to him.

"Right," Ben said with conviction. "I have to do this; we need to know what they're planning."

Megan was heartsick, but she couldn't keep Ben from doing what he felt was right. She took his hand. "Yes, mo ghile, you have to go. You'll convince them I will help you."

Mick said, "Beth and I only have one case we're working on and we'll be ready to come over."

Josef gave Mick a side-long glance. "Mick—"

Mick held up his hand. "Yeah, I know, Josef. But I could stay on the outskirts of the city, and only make myself known if Ben needed me."

"Needed us," Beth said with decision.

Her husband turned to her with a half-smile. He could have figured that Beth wouldn't stay home since he couldn't even get her to stay in the car. "Yeah, needed us."

Megan grasped Mick's words like a lifeline. "I think that would be wise."

"Emmaline said she had a couple of Cleaners in Paris that were her friends and they could help," Josef said.

Now Simone chimed in. "Good, they could be ready to get them all out of the country if things blow up."

"All right, I know when I'm overruled. Just don't tell anyone I gave in or I'll have hell to pay in the region," Josef said, with mock sternness.

Mick smiled widely, "Okay, I'll get with Rider and work out the communications." He looked at Ben. "Chances are they might want you to stay with them so they can test your commitment. They should let you call Megan, especially if you convince them you could get her on their side. A vampire of her age would be an asset to them."

"Right. I can call her and if there's trouble I could give her a code word and she could pass it along." Ben reflected.

Josef nodded slowly. "That would work. I'll find out about the Paris Cleaners and get their contact information for Mick. But Megan, once you're over there we'll have to be able to communicate."

She looked at Josef, her eyes hard. "These vampires, all of them, are younger than me." She touched the side of her head. "With my hair, I can wear an earbud without being detected. It wouldn't be long-range, but if you can get the Cleaners to monitor me locally, I can keep them informed so they can report to you."

Josef chuckled. "Money can do anything, and I have a lot of it. I'll talk to Emmaline and offer the ladies a large stipend to take some time off to keep track of you."

Beth felt Mick's satisfaction at being allowed to participate and she couldn't deny him. She was just glad he was willing to let her go along, and she determined he wouldn't be sorry.

Now Josef went over to the bar and came around, refreshing their glasses. "All right, we have this figured out, so now a toast to our project."

They all drank, and Josef hid his disquiet at the thought of these vampires, whom he considered family, putting themselves in danger.

By the end of the week, Josef had made arrangements with the Paris Cleaners, and Ben was getting ready to leave. Ben had spent some time with Simone and Sofia about the work coming into the law firm. When Ben had been training, he'd left most of the legal work with Simone, and he felt regret that she would bear the brunt of their practice. Simone reassured him that she didn't mind, and Sofia was willing to work more hours to let Ben have the time he needed to prepare for his mission. While he was gone, they decided to take a few less cases, since they'd built up a fund to keep the office running.

Mick and Beth had finished their cases and had found the missing teen that had been their most important task. She'd had run away with a boyfriend to New Orleans, but when he abandoned her there, she'd called her parents. Mick went to out to bring her back to be reunited with her family. They told their office service they weren't accepting any cases for the near future.

Josef had arranged for Mick and Beth to stay in the Villeneuve-le-Roi district, just south of the airport, on the fringes of Paris, far away from the Duvall compound. The Cleaners that Emmaline recommended both took time off from their duties without telling their superiors why. Josef offered them an enormous fee to be available to monitor the communications as well as to help in case of trouble.

Josef oversaw every detail of the plan to make sure Ben, as well as Mick and Beth were as safe as possible. He felt a touch of envy that Mick was going, wishing he could be there himself. He'd survived as a vampire by being paranoid and a control freak, but with Simone's understanding he was able to stand back and let others handle the mission.

His phone rang, and he answered seeing it was Ben.

"Yes Ben."

"Hi, Josef. I'm all ready to leave." They knew Ben's movements might be tracked as soon as he left the country, so he was taking Josef's jet to Washington DC, then he would take a commercial direct to Paris. With the security precautions in place, Ben wouldn't be able to take any blood on the plane, so he would drink heavily before he left Dulles for Paris. Once there, the Cleaners in Josef's pay would meet him and make sure he was fed before he went to his vampire hotel. From there, he would try to contact the Council and put their plan into motion.

Josef went over all of this in his mind again when he responded to Ben. "I think we've covered everything."

"I'm not worried Josef, but I know Megan is. Listen, after I leave, would you keep in touch with her? I promised to call her whenever I could, but I know she's scared."

Josef felt a flash of sympathy for the younger vamp. He admired Ben's willingness to put himself in harm's way to help and he knew Simone would feel the same if he was going into danger. "How about if Megan stayed here with us? That way she won't be alone in your home, sitting there worrying."

"That would be great!" Ben said, and Josef could hear the relief in his voice. "But you'll have to convince her you need her there."

"Don't worry, man. I'll have Simone get on it. You know how stubborn all our women are. She'll have Megan over here right after you've left."

"Good," Ben chuckled, his heart lightened for the first time in a while.

"We'll take care of everything on this end, you just think about what you need to do over there."

"I will. If you take care of Megan then I can concentrate. If things go as I plan, I'll get her over there and she'll be able to help."

Josef didn't want to put more pressure on Ben, so he said, "Use your instincts. They were good in the courtroom, so keep that in mind when you're dealing with the Paris vamps."

After a moment's pause, Ben said, "Thanks, I will. Good luck on this end, and I'll keep in contact when I can."

"Bonne chance, mon ami."

"Et à vous, Josef.'

The next night, Ben boarded the Kostan jet to fly to D.C., with sufficient blood to sustain him. Mick and Beth went with him on this leg of the journey, and then they would take a separate jet for the flight to Paris. They wouldn't meet in the French capital, but would keep in contact through his calls to Megan.

Josef had given Ben an untraceable cell phone so he could make private calls. He didn't know what his situation would be when he finally made contact with the rogue vampires, but having the option made him feel better.

Ben landed at Orly about 2 am, after an uneventful flight. He hoped the Cleaners would meet him when he made his way through customs. He was getting hungry.

He walked down the terminal, with a porter following with his luggage on a cart. Two women made eye contact, and came up to him. They were dressed in boots, jeans and tight tops. One was a red-head and the other had dark cropped hair. They sniffed unobtrusively, and the brunette said effusively in French, "Little brother, we're so happy you are here."

Ben smiled and followed their lead and responded in French. "It is good to see you." Both of the women gave him cheek kisses and took either arm to walk him down the terminal, the porter following them to a long limousine waiting at the curb.

Once they were settled and the car took off, the redhead introduced herself. "I'm Mimi, monsieur."

He took her proffered hand and said, "Please call me Ben."

"And I am Renee," said the brunette in accented English.

"Please, speak in French, I need to practice," Ben said, smiling.

"Oui, d'accord," Mimi responded, opening a small refrigerator and pouring Ben some blood.

He took the glass, downing the ruby liquid, trying not to let his hand shake. It had been a long flight and he was famished. After another glass, he felt better and more in control.

"Merci," he told the ladies.

"Bon," Mimi replied, looking serious. "Now to business. We know you are here to see what our Council is doing. They control the Cleaners, but several of us are not happy with what we are hearing."

"You don't know what they are planning?"

Both vampires shook their heads. "We are hoping you can find out. Monsieur Kostan has talked to us and we will be available to help," Renee said. She handed Ben a paper. "These are our mobile numbers, please memorize them and destroy the paper. We have your contact information, but will not call you."

The limo stopped in front of a small hotel.

"You have reservations here. On that list are numbers to call to have blood delivered. This is a well-known hotel among vampires, so we cannot be seen with you."

Mimi continued. "From now on, assume you are being watched. Bonne chance, Ben."

He smiled at them, pocketing the paper, and getting out of the car. The driver had already set his bags on the sidewalk. The doorman from the hotel signaled inside and a bellman rushed out to grab the luggage.

Ben took an unneeded breath and walked into the lobby and up the front desk. "Good evening," he said in French. "My name is Ben Talbot, and I have a reservation."

TBC

So, Ben is finally in Paris and will try to find his way to the Council. Can he succeed in figuring out what they're up to?

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